Murder charges issued in fatal shooting of Sgt. Collin Rose

Raymond Durham has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Wayne State University Sgt. Collin Rose.
Hasan Dudar/Detroit Free Press

Police Officer Collin Rose, 29, was fatally shot Nov. 22 as he tried to arrest a man in the Woodbridge neighborhood, just west of Wayne State's Midtown campus. photo courtesy of Detroit Public Safety Foundation(Photo: Handout)

The man accused of shooting and injuring two Detroit police officers in March now faces murder charges in connection with the death of Wayne State University Sgt. Collin Rose.

Raymond Durham, 61, has been charged with first-degree murder — punishable by life in prison without parole if convicted — murder of a peace officer, possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He appeared in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice this afternoon in the case.

He also had a competency hearing in the earlier shooting case. During the hearing, attorneys said Durham was found incompetent to stand trial, again. It’s the second time a doctor deemed him incompetent to stand trial.

“The man has had an untreated mental illness for a long time,” his attorney, Gabi Silver, said when the brief hearing concluded. “I think you can see from the way he presents that he’s suffering from an acute mental illness.”

Raymond Durham stands during his probable cause conference in March 2017 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.(Photo: Rachel Woolf, Special to the Free Press)

Durham, who is being housed at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry, told 36th District Judge Kenneth King he would take medicine prescribed to him.

“We want to get him treated and competent so that we can move forward,” King said.

He ordered Durham to be evaluated for competency in the new case by the forensic center. Durham, who wore yellow sweatpants and a green sweatshirt, is scheduled to be back in court on Nov. 3.

Rose’s family was in the Detroit courtroom today, but declined to comment.

Officials said Rose, 29, stopped Durham, who was riding a bike, on Nov. 22 near Lincoln and Brainard in Detroit. Durham is accused of shooting Rose in the head, and the officer died the next day.

The charges against Durham were announced by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy at a news conference today.

"We lost a valuable member of our department," Wayne State University Police Chief Anthony Holt said at the news conference. "We lost a very young officer with a great future in him."

In March, police said DNA evidence ties Durham to Rose and called him the prime suspect in the officer's death.

Police stopped him on Ash Street near Tillman to do a pedestrian investigation March 15. While he was detained, prosecutors say Durham fought with the officers and pulled a gun from his front waistband, then fired at the officers, leading to a shootout.A manhunt ensued. Police tracked down the suspect, who had multiple gunshot wounds, a couple of hours later at Vinewood and Michigan Avenue and arrested him.

A loaded .38-caliber revolver found with Durham was sent for ballistics testing. Officials declined to comment on specific evidence in the case today.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said today he hopes the charges brought against Durham will "send a strong message of deterrence to those who may want to bring harm to our officers."

Another man had been charged in Rose's death, but prosecutors dropped charges in December when the investigation eliminated him as a suspect.